City of Charlottesville MEMO

Transcription

1 City of Charlottesville MEMO TO: City Council FROM: Missy Creasy, Planning Manager DATE: August 7, 2013 SUBJECT: A World Class City Comprehensive Plan Outline of updates made based on August 1, 2013 Work Session Following the August 1, 2013 work session, staff worked diligently to update the comprehensive plan in accordance with the direction provided by City Council. The following highlights items which were updated: Community Characteristics 1. Data updates including: updated student enrollment numbers, correction on number of schools with 3-4 year old programs, homeschooling data, educational attainment data by race and housing and commuting cost data. Land Use 1. Removal of Fry s Spring from the small area plan listing in Objective 1.1 and map update as appropriate. 2. Edit 5.2: Explore the expansion of the area areas of the City where the Infill Special Use Permit can be utilized. 3. Edit 5.5: Revise the Future Land Use Map so that it represents the desired vision for the City s future. Pay special attention to increasing the supply of affordable housing, and of employment opportunities for all citizens and encourage the development of mixed income neighborhoods throughout the city. 4. Addition to the small area plan narrative of language outlining intent of plans. Community Facilities 1. Add Fire 1.3: Encourage every residential gas customer to have a functioning carbon monoxide unit. 2. Revise Wastewater 1.2: Continue to implement the recommended improvements for capacity by reducing infiltration and inflow, fire protection and redundancy of systems through looping lines from the RWSA Draft Report on the Urban Finished Water System Facilities Plan. 3. Add Solid Waste 1.2: Explore opportunities to expand public and private recycling, composting and other innovations for waste management. 4. Add P&R 2.4: Encourage the acquisition of land that serves a cross functional purpose as parkland/public space and the development of green infrastructure for stormwater management. Page 1 of 5

2 5. Under Parks and Recreation 5.1 insert proper title of Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenway Plan. 6. Under Educational Institutions, inserted new 1.3 Maintain school properties in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding developed in Revise P&R 2.5: Incorporate best practices in the location and design of a range of parks, school yards, public trails and recreational facilities of various scales and functions, from large natural areas to small urban parks throughout the city. Economic Sustainability 1. Revised Vision statement: Charlottesville is a community with an effective workforce development system and a business friendly environment that supports innovation, entrepreneurship, heritage tourism, commercial, mixed use and infill development, and access to a growing array of diverse employment and career ladder opportunities for all City residents. 2. Revised 1.7: Collaborate with workforce service providers to help City residents overcome barriers to employment such as basic education and training, transportation, childcare, etc. 3. Add 1.8: Develop a formal partnership with the Workforce Center Charlottesville by establishing a downtown satellite workforce center to ensure that City residents have access to training opportunities and resources that will help them meet local employers workforce needs. 4. Add 1:10: Accept the final report of the Workforce Development Strategic Action Team, Growing Opportunity: A Path to Self-Sufficiency in Charlottesville and adopt its comprehensive workforce development action plan as City-wide policy to facilitate economic prosperity for all City residents. 5. Revised 2.2: Further develop partnerships with UVA, and more specifically, the Darden School of Business and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation in order to maximize the business assistance resources available to entrepreneurs and expand innovative industry in Charlottesville. 6. Revised 4.8: Explore appropriate incentives for development projects with significant economic impact, with particular emphasis on target industries and those industries that directly address the need for more career ladder job opportunities that will help move City residents towards self-sufficiency (e.g., light manufacturing, semi-skilled trades, etc.). 7. Revise 5.2: Enhance heritage and cultural tourism efforts in partnership with Albemarle County, with a particular focus on African American history, as well as events, goods and services related to hospitality, music, foods, wines, beers, ciders and other artisan-type products.* 8. Revise 5.4: Explore ways of creating recreational access routes to our community s heritage and cultural sites to further enhance their impact on Charlottesville s economy. Environment 1. Revised 1.3: Participate in and partner with the Rivanna River Basin Commission, or appropriate organizations and community groups, on planning, assessment, education and outreach efforts related to the Rivanna River, its corridor and watershed. 2. Revise 2.2: Expand and protect the overall tree canopy of the City and increase the canopy of neighborhoods in an effort to achieve American Forest canopy recommendations (urban: 25%, suburban: 50% and center business zones: 15%).* 3. Revise 3.8: Plant and promote the use of regionally adaptive native and drought tolerant plants with reference to the regionally specific native plants database. 4. Split current 4.1 into 4.1 and 4.2 Page 2 of 5

3 5. Revised 4.9: Identify for remediation, areas along the Rivanna River, Moore s Creek, Meadow Creek and their tributaries that have particularly serious streambank erosion. 6. Revise goal 8: Promote and implement strategies to reduce waste generation and increase recycling, composting, and waste diversion to decrease environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions. Housing 1. Reorganized the chapter as presented by Ms. Smith with the shifting of her proposed Goal 1 with Goal Edit Chapter Vision: Consequently City Neighborhoods will include a variety of housing types, housing sizes, incomes all within convenient walking, biking or transit distance of enhanced community amenities 3. Revised Goal 1: Evaluate the impact of housing decisions on other City Goals and City Vision with the understanding that any regulatory land use changes may affect housing because of the City s limited geographic size of only 10.4 square miles. All such changes must be considered within the context of City Council s goal of achieving a minimum 15% supported affordable housing throughout the City by Revise 2.1: Preserve and improve the quality and quantity of the existing housing stock through the renovation, rehabilitation and/or expansion of existing units as a means of enhancing neighborhood stability. 5. Revise 5.4: Perform an inventory across the City and use GIS technology to analyze where and how much affordable housing is available and where opportunities exist to create additional units and rehabilitate existing units, as cross referenced by relevant suitability criteria and consistent with Comprehensive Plan goals and City Vision. 6. Revise 3.1: Meet City Council s Continue to work toward the City s goal of 15% supported affordable housing by 2025 as adopted in February Revise 3.2: Attempt to Incorporate affordable units throughout the City, recognizing that locating affordable units throughout the community benefits the whole City.* 8. Revised 3.6: Promote housing options to accommodate both renters and owners at all price points, including workforce housing. 9. Revise Goal 4: Promote an assortment of affordable housing funding initiatives to meet the needs of owners, renters and the homeless with varying levels of income.* 10. Revised 4.7: Promote the Tax Abatement Program for houses and mixed use buildings that become or are developed as 30% more energy efficient than statewide building code. 11. Revise 5.3: Encourage UVA and other major employers, like the City of Charlottesville and Charlottesville School Division to work in partnership with developers and real estate professionals to expand housing opportunities within the City for the workforce either for rent or purchase that are in close proximity to the respective employer. 12. Revise 5.4: Perform an inventory across the City and use GIS technology to analyze where and how much affordable housing is available and where opportunities exist to create additional units and rehabilitate existing units, as cross referenced by relevant suitability criteria and consistent with Comprehensive Plan goals and City Vision. 13. Add 5.6: Work in cooperation with local governments and regional agencies to promote a regional fair share approach to providing affordable housing at a variety of income levels. 14. Add 5.7: Support housing programs at the local and regional level that encourage mixedincome neighborhoods and discourage the isolation of very low and low income households. Page 3 of 5

4 Transportation 1. Revise Chapter Vision: The City of Charlottesville s transportation network provides the fundamental framework for creating a safe, livable community while reinforcing more sustainable land use patterns 2. Clarifying definitions were added to the glossary to address transportation terminology (see below) 3. Add 1.2: Provide convenient and safe pedestrian connections within 1/4 miles of all commercial and employment centers, transit routes, schools and parks. 4. Revise 2.7: Encourage existing and new employment and businesses to provide uses to support alternative travel modes by providing on-site amenities such as transit shelters, bicycle storage (racks/lockers) and showers as appropriate. to promote alternative transit for their workers. 5. Add 2.10: Develop a GIS-based map of all city owned undeveloped land and rights of way, to inform bicycle and pedestrian improvements. 6. Add 2.11: Encourage UVA and other major employers, like the City of Charlottesville and Charlottesville City School Division to work in partnership with developers and real estate professionals to expand workforce housing opportunities within close proximity of the employer, either by foot, bike or bus stop on a route to the employer. 7. Add 6.10: Explore innovative approaches to increasing ridership of public transit, especially for first time riders. Urban Design and Historic Preservation 1. Revise 7.7: Coordinate with other City programs, such as affordable housing initiatives, to encourage preservation and rehabilitation of historic resources, including low income housing more than 50 years old. 2. Add 7.11: Encourage retaining and replenishing shade trees in neighborhoods as we strive to make the City more walkable, particularly larger trees where possible. 3. Revise Goal 9: Capture the embodied energy of existing buildings by encouraging the adaptive re-use and more efficient use of existing structures. 4. Add 9.4: Support the rehabilitation of low income owner occupied housing for energy efficiency and preservation of neighborhood character. Implementation Updates to all actions were made to reflect any changes made to the chapters. Glossary The following definitions were added: 1. Workforce Housing: A housing unit where no person or family between percent of the area median income spends more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. 2. Context Sensitive Design: Context Sensitive Design (CSD) is defined by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to building roadway projects that involves all stakeholders. The goal is to develop a transportation facility that fits its physical setting and preserves scenic, aesthetic, neighborhood, historic and environmental resources, while maintaining safety and mobility. It is an approach to project design that considers the total context within which a transportation improvement project will exist. The Institute for Traffic Engineers and Congress for New Urbanism have developed a Page 4 of 5

5 recommended practice to implementing Context Sensitive Design Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A Context Sensitive Approach (2010). 3. TDM: Transportation demand management (TDM) addresses traffic congestion by reducing travel demand rather than increasing transportation capacity and focuses on alternatives such as ride sharing, alternative work schedules and teleworking, increased transit usage, parking management, walking and bicycling. 4. TSM: Transportation system management (TSM) strategies focus on increasing the efficiency, safety and capacity of existing transportation systems through such techniques as facility design treatments, access management programs, high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, incident response plans, targeted traffic enforcement and intelligent transportation systems (ITS). 5. Intelligent Transportation System: A TSM measure referred to as Intelligent Transportation Systems, or ITS, encompasses a broad range of wireless and wire-line communications-based information, control and electronics technologies. When integrated into the transportation system infrastructure, and in vehicles themselves, these technologies help monitor and manage traffic flow, reduce congestion and provide alternate routes to travelers. 6. Access Management: Access management is the process of balancing the competing needs of motor vehicle mobility and land access. Access management provides access to land development while simultaneously preserving the safe and efficient flow of traffic, including bicyclists and pedestrians, on the roadway system. Page 5 of 5